jan's diary

TED (Technology Entertainment and Design) is a global set of conferences curated by the American private non-profit Sapling Foundation, formed to disseminate “ideas worth spreading”. Since June 2006, the talks have been offered for free viewing online, under a Creative Commons license, through TED.com. As of July 2010, over 700 talks are available free online. By January 2009 they had been viewed 50 million times; In July 2010, the viewing figure stands at more than 290 million, attracted a still growing global audience. - More

Dan Meyer’s talk can be seen in YouTube or at TED here. On TED one can choose between subtitles in 18 languages and use an interactive transcript. If you click somewhere in the latter the video moves to that point in the presentation. Click the image above to see in more detail what it looks like, or, even better, go to TED to see how it works.

Listen in English while you read subtitles or transcript in French. Oh no! You may learn French this way!

With a little more effort one may read the transcript in several languages:

Puedo pedirles que recuerden la época en la que realmente amaban algo, una película, un álbum, una canción o un libro, y que lo recomendaban de corazón a aquellos que verdaderamente querían. y ustedes anticipaban su reacción, la esperaban, y de pronto llegaba; y la persona la odiaba. Bueno, a manera de introducción, esta es exactamente la manera en la que he pasado cada dia de trabajo durante los últimos seis años. Yo enseño matemáticas en la preparatoria. Le vendo un producto a un mercado que no lo quiere, pero que debe adquirirlo porque la ley lo obliga. Quiero decir, es simplemente un caso perdido.

Puis-je vous demander de vous rappeler la fois où vous aviez adoré quelque chose, un film, un disque, une chanson ou un livre, où vous l’aviez chaudement recommandé à une personne que vous appréciiez vraiment, en anticipant sa réaction, en l’attendant impatiemment, et du moment où le résultat tomba: elle le détestait. Cette sorte d’introduction reflète exactement l’état dans lequel j’ai passé chaque jour de travail des six dernières années. J’enseigne les maths au lycée. Je vends un produit à des clients qui ne le veulent pas, mais que la loi oblige à acheter. En clair, c’est une sorte de — c’est perdu d’avance.

Can I ask you to please recall a time when you really loved something, a movie, an album, a song or a book, and you recommended it wholeheartedly to someone you also really liked, and you anticipated that reaction, you waited for it, and it came back, and the person hated it. So, by way of introduction, that is the exact same state in which I spent every working day of the last six years. I teach high school math. I sell a product to a market that doesn’t want it, but is forced by law to buy it. I mean, that’s kind of — it’s just a losing proposition.